Oops, forgot about the clutch. It was obvious that the master was leaking.
You bleed the system at the slave. I ran a lot through figuring dust and crud
had gotten around, and messed with the clutch and gears intermitently. I'd
guess I bled out the system more than three times.
Then I drove it, and topped off the master every week or two. The pedal stayed
up. There are a lot of reasonably priced master and slave cylindars coming up
on EBay and I think Curt and Rick even have a stock. Anyway, I bought a new
master and slave off of EBay. Very easy replacement on the master if you have a
manual. Trickiest part is the pedal spring assembly, and that's not that
tricky. You can do the circlip with needle nose pliers, but the right tool
sure helps. Haven't done the slave yet as its not leaking and I don't have a
lift.
You can get to the bleeder on the slave by lifting only the front right corner
of the car. Don't forget a sturdy safety jack or a couple of cinder blocks.
As to the manual, here in Las Vegas the public library actually carries it.
Curiously, they also carried the manual for my Jensen Healey, but I would
likely be hard pressed to get the complete works of Dickens or even Mailer.
Other things you will want to do very early:
1. Take out the fuse box and wire brush it till you have blisters;
2. Do the same to the connecters at the end of the wires;
3. While the radiator is off, this is a great time to switch to the six blade
fan if you can find one;
4. Within 100 miles of the car running and rolling, I changed out the
differential and trans fluid. $69.95 at a local shop.
5. The water coupling at the thermostat is likely rotted;
6. All the rubber at the front suspension has got to be trash. Still the car
is solid enough to work regardless. Sunbeam Specialties or Classic Sunbeam
have the rebuild parts at some hundreds of dollars. A local shop should charge
about $450.00 for the install. There's enough wierd about the whole set up
that you should take a copy of the manual section on the front suspension to
the shop too. Expensive but unaviodable.
7. The vacuum unit for the power brakes is likely not working. Pull the unit.
Plug and secure the vacuum line. Bypass the unit by connecting the in and out
lines with a proper bypass rubber brake line. Again, Classic Sunbeam, Sunbeam
Specialties or CAT. I used a piece off of a Hyundai, but S. Laifman of this
series tells me that the flares were likely wrong. No problems yet, but I'm
very afraid of the day I go to reinstall the vacuum unit and find out that I
crushed some perfectly good lines.
8. I was able to put an easy half turn on about a quarter of the bolts holding
the valve covers and the oil pan. No leaks. Don't crank on these though.
You'll destroy the old gaskets.
9. Lube the car where it will take a lube. See chart on Tigers United.
Then there are things that went wrong very early. These include:
1. Bad ground on tail lights;
2. Brake light sending unit (Classic Sunbeam < $40.
3. Stuck tach;
4. Left blinker (another bad ground);
5. Blinker lever would not stay up on a right turn. Cleaned it--all ok;
6. Three different wheel studs are stripped. Temporary fix with JB Weld. The
axle just doesn't pull, but I got a fix from this site suggesting cutting out
the old studs and replacing with shorter studs that can sneak in without having
to pull the hubs.
7. One leaking wheel cylinder. Classic or Speciaties ~ $90.00 or repair kit; ~
$8.00.
8. Various dash lights not working or dim. Clean connections under dash as
well. I had only one bad bulb.
Have a ball.
Bob Nersesian
B382000975
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